General elections were held in Indonesia on 14 February 2024 to elect the president, vice president, People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) which consists of the House of Representatives (DPR), the Regional Representative Council (DPD), and members of local legislative bodies at the provincial and city/regency levels.[2][3] The newly elected members of the MPR will be sworn in on 1 October 2024, while the elected president and vice president will be sworn in on 20 October 2024.[4] Incumbent President Joko Widodo is ineligible to run for a third term due to limitations established by the Indonesian constitution.[5] The election has over 200 million eligible voters, voting in over 800,000 polling stations across the country on the same date.
Electoral system
The previous election was regulated by Law No. 7 of 2017. The General Elections Commission (KPU), a legally independent government body was responsible for organizing the election. In addition, the vote was monitored by the General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), which also has the authority to rule on violations of election rules (e.g. administrative errors, vote-buying, etc.). Any ethical violations committed by either Bawaslu or the KPU were to be handled by the Elections Organiser Honours Council [id] (DKPP), which consists of one member from each body and five others recommended by the government. The same system and regulations are expected to be applied in 2024.
Voters were given at least four ballot papers: one for president and vice president, one for the People's Representative Council (DPR), one for the Regional Representative Council (DPD), one for the Province People's Representative Councils (DPRD Provinsi). Outside Jakarta, voters received an additional ballot paper for the Regency or City People's Representative Councils (DPRD Kabupaten/Kota). Overseas Indonesian voters received only two ballots: for president-vice president and for DPR. Voters used a nail to poke a hole in the ballot paper indicating which party or candidate they wished to vote for, and then dipped their fingers in ink as a precaution against voter fraud.
Presidential
In order to run as a presidential candidate, a candidate had to be formally endorsed by a political party or a coalition thereof holding a minimum of 20 percent of seats in the DPR or having won at least 25 percent of the popular vote in the previous election, i.e. in the 2019 election.[6]
The voting procedure followed a two-round system, with voters simply choosing one of the candidate pairs. A candidate will be required to win a majority and at least 20% of the votes in over half of Indonesia's provinces to be declared the winner. If no candidate pairs had fulfilled the criterion (50%+1 of total popular votes), the election would have had to progress to a second round with only the two candidates receiving the most popular votes.
Have been resident in Indonesia for at least 5 years;
Not have held foreign citizenship, either at the time of the election or at any time before.
Legislative
Members of both the House of Representatives or People's Representative Council (DPR) and the Regional People's Representative Councils (DPRD) are elected from multi-member electoral districts through voting with an open list system, and seat distribution is done with the Sainte-Laguë method. There is a gender quota requiring at least 30% of registered candidates to be female.
A 4% parliamentary threshold is set for parties to be represented in the DPR, though candidates could still win seats in the regional councils provided they won sufficient votes. There are 580 DPR seats contested. Nationally, there are 84 DPR electoral districts, with 301 provincial and 2,375 municipal electoral districts. Senatorial candidates for the DPD are not allowed to be members of any political party. Four senators are elected for each province – a total of 152 members from all 38 provinces.[7]
These were the first elections for provincial deputies and representatives of both Houses for Central Papua, Southwest Papua, South Papua, and Highland Papua - all new provinces formed in 2022. On 12 December 2022, Government Regulation in Lieu of Law No. 1/2022 signed and published to amend the 2017 electoral law to make the new electoral regions to those provinces and facilitate the election there.[8]
Nusantara, the designated new national capital, was not a new separate electoral region in the 2024 general elections as it is still under construction and therefore had an insufficient population for it to have its own electoral district. Therefore, the government decided that the DPR will serve as a temporary representation body until 2029, when Nusantara can be established as new electoral region. For the 2024 election, electors living within Nusantara were included in the East Kalimantan electoral region.[9][10][11]
On 18 April 2023, the KPU announced that there were provisionally 205,853,818 registered voters, including 1,574,737 voters registered overseas. It was planned that the vote would be held in 823,287 polling stations (TPS).[15] This was updated to a "final" figure of 204,807,222 voters in July 2023, who were to vote in 823,220 polling stations.[16]
Postal ballots were sent to Indonesian embassies overseas in early January 2024.[17] Although overseas voters cast their votes before voters in Indonesia, the KPU explicitly banned any exit polls or publication of results from overseas voting before the election process had been completed across Indonesia.[18]
Voting occurred between 7:00 and 13:00 local time, although voters who had arrived before 13:00 and were still in the queue were allowed to cast their votes after the deadline.[19]
To participate in the election, political parties had to have branches in every province in Indonesia, 75% of regencies or cities in those provinces, and 50% of districts in regencies where the party have branches.[20] In April 2022, the Ministry of Law and Human Rights declared the names of 75 national political parties eligible to register for the 2024 elections.[21][22] In the end, a total of 24 political parties registered with the KPU to run in the election nationally.[23] On 14 December 2022, the KPU announced that 17 parties would be eligible to contest the legislative election.
The Ummah Party, who the KPU deemed not qualified to participate in the elections, accused the KPU of irregularities in the process. The party subsequently filed a written complaint.[24] Following mediations brokered by Bawaslu between the party and the KPU on 20 and 21 December, Bawaslu instructed the electoral commission to repeat the verification process for Ummah Party.[25] The party declared as qualified to participate in the election on 30 December.[26][27]
Meanwhile, the Just and Prosperous People's Party (PRIMA), which registration was initially rejected, filed a lawsuit against KPU, and won the right for a second verification from the KPU.[28] However, on 19 April 2023, the KPU deemed PRIMA not qualified to participate in 2024 elections after the party failed in its factual verification phase, where the KPU found the party's membership numbers below the required threshold.[29] The Indonesian Justice and Unity Party and Berkarya Party also failed to qualify for the election, despite participating in 2019 and having had party members elected as members of regional legislatures then.[30][31]
In July 2017, the People's Representative Council (DPR) passed a law that only parties or coalitions with at least 20% of seats in the legislature (i.e. 115 seats), or 25% of votes in the previous election are eligible to submit a presidential candidate. Requirements for presidential/vice-presidential candidates are, Indonesian-born citizens, Indonesian citizens who were born abroad, a minimum age of 40 and a requirement to "have a belief in the One and Only God". If the candidates had spouses, they also had to be Indonesian citizens. A criminal record resulting in over five years of incarceration or an active bankruptcy bars a candidate from running.[33]
Demokrat had previously declared support for Anies Baswedan, but due to the selection of Muhaimin Iskandar as Anies Baswedan's running mate, Demokrat Party's Chairman Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono rescinded their support and then declared support for Prabowo Subianto.[38][39]
The Indonesian Solidarity Party had previously declared their support for Ganjar Pranowo but rescinded support and on 24 October 2023, officially declared support for Prabowo Subianto[40][41]
Gibran's candidacy
An October 2023 ruling by the Constitutional Court of Indonesia added an exception to the 40-year minimum age criteria, allowing those younger than 40 who had been previously elected as regional leaders to run as presidential or vice-presidential candidates. This allowed 36-year-old Gibran Rakabuming, son of incumbent president Jokowi and mayor of Surakarta, to run for the vice-presidency. The ruling was controversial as the court chief justice, Anwar Usman, is Gibran's uncle.[42][43][44] Anwar Usman was ultimately demoted by the Majelis Kehormatan Mahkamah Konstitusi or the Honorary Council of the Constitutional Court from the position of Chief Justice on 8 November after finding him guilty of conflict of interest on the ruling.[45] Furthermore, the KPU was found to have committed ethics violations surrounding Gibran's vice presidential registration for allowing him to register his candidacy before the commission had adjusted the age minimum for candidates in its internal regulation.[46] A lawsuit was filed by the Indonesian Democracy Defenders (TPDI) and the Indonesian Advocates Movement (Perekat Nusantara) against Joko Widodo, Gibran Rakabuming, Anwar Usman and First Lady Iriana alleging nepotism and political dynasty on the part of the respondents, but was dismissed by the Jakarta State Administrative Court a day before the election.[47]
Five concurrent televised presidential and vice presidential debates were held between 12 December 2023 and 4 February 2024. During the debate on 21 January, Gibran Rakabuming was seen making a “ducking” gesture and pretending to search for a lost item in response to an answer from Mahfud MD, which drew mostly negative reactions online for its supposed rudeness.[48][49]
Social media usage and disinformation
Prabowo Subianto's campaign was noted for its efforts at rehabilitating his image from his association with human rights violations during the dictatorship of former President Suharto into a "cuddly" (gemoy) grandfather figure among the youth, going as far as to make an animated avatar of him on TikTok using artificial intelligence. Anies Baswedan's and Ganjar Pranowo's campaign also used interactive AI chatbots to engage with voters.[50][51][52]
During the campaign, Anies Baswedan was targeted by a deepfake audio recording purportedly showing him being chastised by a political backer in January. Prabowo Subianto's campaign team used AI to depict children in a television commercial in order to bypass laws prohibiting the appearance of minors in electoral advertisements.[50]
Golkar, one of the parties supporting Prabowo for president, uploaded a viral AI-generated deepfake video on social media of a simulation of Suharto, who had died in 2008, in which he appeared to urge voters to select the party's candidates in the upcoming election. This led some civil society organizations to urge the KPU to implement regulations on the usage of artificial intelligence.[53]
Allegations of state support
On 12 February 2024, investigative journalist Dandhy Laksono released a documentary on YouTube directed by him, titled Dirty Vote, alleging that Joko Widodo used state funds to support Prabowo Subianto's campaign, becoming viral within the day and prompting accusations of sabotage by Prabowo's campaign team.[54] The presidential office denied the claims, while protests were held in reaction to the allegations.[55]
Legislative election
Contested seats
Legislative elections in Indonesia: February 2024[56]
All legislative candidates has to be Indonesian citizens, over 21 years old, senior high school (or equivalent) graduates, and have never been convicted for a crime resulting in a sentence of five years or more. In addition, the candidates for the DPR or local legislatures has to be endorsed by a political party and are required to resign from their non-legislative government offices – except for the president and vice president – or their state-owned company positions. Legislators running for reelection or another body through a new political party are also required to resign.[61] For each electoral district, political parties are required to have at least 30 percent of running candidates, rounded to the closest whole number, be women. This was changed from the regulations in effect in the 2019 election, where the 30 percent figure would be rounded up, and thus less women candidates overall would be required.[62]
Candidate registration was opened between 1–14 May 2023, with a total of 10,341 candidates registering to run for the DPR. This included 17 of the 18 national parties registering a maximum of 580 candidates allowed each, with only the Gelora Party registering less with 481 candidates.[63] Approximately 1,100 individuals registered as candidates for the Regional Representative Council, with only 622 passing requirements.[64] A total of 9,917 candidates were recognized by the KPU.[65]
Workers unloading ballot boxes in Jakarta the day before the election.
The Indonesian Government budgeted Rp 25 trillion (~USD 1.7 billion) for the election preparations in 2022–2023, over half of which was used by the General Elections Commission (KPU) and most of the remaining funds used by the General Election Supervisory Agency.[102] The Ministry of Finance budgeted Rp 71.3 trillion for the whole election process, a 57 percent increase from the 2019 election's budget.[103] Around Rp 17 trillion (US$1.1 billion) of the budget is earmarked for presidential election runoffs, if one is required.[104]
Over 1.2 billion ballot papers were printed, along with 4.16 million ballot boxes.[105] According to KPU chairman Hasyim Asyari, the costs of printing the legislative ballots alone would be over Rp 800 billion.[106] Ballots began to be printed in November 2023,[107] with the distribution of ballots mostly beginning on 10 February 2024. Polling stations are intended to receive their ballots the day before voting, although more isolated regions began distribution earlier.[108] To reach more isolated polling stations, helicopters, boats, and animal-drawn carts were employed.[109] KPU intends for each polling station to serve a maximum of 300 voters, although regulations allow for a maximum of 500. According to Hasyim Asyari, this was due to the time constraints at each polling station.[110] Each polling station has four voting booths.[111]
Over 5.7 million poll workers and volunteers (Kelompok Penyelenggara Pemungut Suara/KPPS) would serve at the polling stations in Indonesia and abroad. Due to concerns over deaths of KPPS staff in the 2019 election, KPU added rules in 2024 limiting their age to between 17 and 55, in addition to providing proof of good health.[112] Seven KPPS members are assigned to each polling station, with one serving as the head.[113] KPPS staff are paid Rp 1.1 million to 1.2 million (~USD 70) for their work, double the payment received by KPPS staff in 2019.[114] Vote counting at each polling station occurs between 14 and 15 February, with vote recapitulation being done between 15 February and 20 March at the village/subdistrict, district, and regency/city levels.[115] Each pair of presidential candidates are also allowed a maximum of two witnesses for each polling station,[116]
As Indonesia's territory stretches across three time zones, voting began at 7:00 am in each time zone and closed at 01:00 pm., beginning at 22:00 GMT (13 February) in Papua and ending at 06:00 GMT (14 February) in Sumatra.[51]
Incidents
On 11 February, a mob in Paniai Regency, Central Papua, burned down a district office along with a number of ballots and ballot boxes over a KPU decision to relocate a polling station in the regency.[117] On 12 February, the KPU ordered the postponement of voting in 108 polling stations in Demak Regency, Central Java, due to flooding from the Wulan River.[118] On election day, voting was delayed by several hours in 34 polling stations in Jakarta due to flooding caused by a thunderstorm.[51] Voting was also postponed in some polling stations in South Tangerang due to flooding.[119][120] In total, 37,466 polling stations across the country began voting considerably after 07:00 am.[121] In Western New Guinea, polls were not held in 1,297 polling stations in Central Papua, Highland Papua and Papua Provinces due to problems related to logistics and social tensions revolving around the local noken system, in which a designated representative casts votes on behalf of a group.[122]
Voting was not held in one polling station in Cimahi as the ballot box delivered was found to be empty, while mixups of ballot papers were reported in other polling stations in the city.[123] In Bogor Regency, Bawaslu confirmed that eight ballot papers had been rigged to select certain candidates before they could be distributed to voters.[124] Bawaslu also confirmed that ballot tampering had occurred during overseas voting in Malaysia.[125] Migrant organizations in Malaysia also reported that ballots were being bought for between 25 and 50 ringgit (between US$5–10).[126] Bawaslu recorded around 1,200 electoral violations during the vote, mostly from ethical infractions and neutrality violations by government employees.[127]
Since 14 February, at least 57 election officers across the country have died from fatigue and work-related accidents and diseases during the counting of ballots.[128] Intimidation against election officers was reported in 1,473 polling stations, while 6,084 polling stations received mixed up ballots.[121]
During the vote-counting, allegations emerged of votes appearing larger on the KPU-generated online application Sirekap (Recapitulation Information System) than what the actual results showed. Bawaslu attributed the issue to possible errors on part of the newly founded app, and welcomed an audit into Sirekap.[129] The PDI-P announced its formal rejection of the use of Sirekap on 20 February.[130] Citing problems and discrepancies with Sirekap, the KPU ordered delays in the recapitulation of votes at the district level.[131]
Preliminary results
Quick counts
Official results are expected to be released in March, but quick counts from government-approved tabulators came out shortly after polling stations closed.[51] Initial tallies from Indikator Politik, Kompas, and the Indonesian Survey Circle showed Prabowo Subianto receiving between 53.4 and 59.8 percent of votes cast, followed by Anies Baswedan, who received between 23.11 and 26.39 percent, and Ganjar Pranowo, who received between 16.72 and 17.12 percent.[132]
As of 26 February 2024, 23:00 WIB (UTC+7); 77.38% votes counted
Demographics
The research and development department of Indonesian newspaper Kompas (Litbang Kompas) conducted an exit poll, and released a demographic breakdown based on political preference.
Following the results of unofficial quick counts, Prabowo claimed victory on the evening of 14 February at an event with his supporters at Istora Senayan in Jakarta, calling it the "the victory of all Indonesians."[135][136] Gibran Rakabuming also expressed thanks to Prabowo for "giving young people a chance."[55] Ganjar Pranowo's campaign team said that they were investigating reports of electoral violations and alleged "structural, systematic and massive fraud" during the voting.[137] Hasto Kristiyanto, the secretary-general of the PDI-P, said that election irregularities were enforced from the top down, beginning with the decision to allow Gibran Rakabuming Raka to run for vice-president. Hamdan Zoelva, a former chef justice of the Constitutional Court and a member of Anies Baswedan's campaign team also said that there were "strong indications that violations occurred in a structured, systematic and massive way in the presidential election".[138] Remarks by independent observers indicated there were "no signs of systemic fraud".[139]
The Jakarta Composite Index on 15 February recorded its sharpest rise in two months as quick count results indicated Prabowo's victory, which analysts attributed to the removal of political uncertainty which would arise from a runoff election. Largest gains were made by banks, Nickel companies, and infrastructure firms.[140]
Protests
Following the allegations, police said that it would allow peaceful protests.[141] A demonstration was held in front of the Istana Merdeka in Jakarta in protest against Prabowo's claims of victory on 15 February, followed by rallies on 16 February against alleged electoral fraud[142] and Joko Widodo's perceived support for Prabowo at the KPU headquarters.[138] Joko Widodo dismissed the allegations of fraud, saying that evidence for fraud should be brought to Bawaslu and the Constitutional Court.[143]
Analysis
After the release of quick count results, Lingkaran Survei Indonesia attributed split-ticket voters to the Ganjar-Mahfud tandem's poor performance despite the PDI-P's success in remaining the largest party in the legislature.[144] Notably, Prabowo won the most votes in the traditionally PDI-P supporting provinces of Central Java and Bali.[145]Kompas' exit polls found strong support for Prabowo's candidacy from non-Muslim voters and Nahdlatul Ulama Muslims, winning in 36 of 38 provinces (except for Aceh and West Sumatra, where the Anies-Muhaimin tandem received the most votes).[146]Nahdlatul Ulama-affiliated academic Ulil Abshar Abdalla [id], in a Kompas column, attributed Prabowo's strong performance to Indonesian voters prioritizing the continuation of Jokowi's policies over concerns on legal and ethical violations.[147] Anies-Muhaimin and Ganjar-Mahfud were also defeated in East Java and Central Java, respectively, even though their supporting parties (PKB and PDI-P, respectively) won the most votes in the two provinces.[148]
Reactions
Domestic
Outgoing president Joko Widodo stated that he had met and congratulated Prabowo and Gibran on the evening of 14 February, based on quick count results.[149] Former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono congratulated Prabowo and stated that he "is now his commander".[150]
International
Australia – Foreign Minister Penny Wong said that the Australian government was looking "forward to working closely with the next president" when he is inaugurated.[52] Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called Prabowo on 15 February, tweeting that he was "the first foreign leader to speak today with Prabowo, who has a clear lead in official and unofficial counts".[151][152] On 23 February, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Richard Marles personally congratulated Prabowo during his official visit to the Ministry of Defense of Indonesia in Jakarta.[153]
China – Chinese Ambassador to IndonesiaLu Kang visited Prabowo's home on 18 February and personally congratulated him over the election results while expressing hope that "Indonesia and China can grow together, prosper together".[154]
Czech Republic – Prime Minister Petr Fiala congratulated Prabowo on social media and stated "readiness to strengthen bilateral relations".[155]
India – Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Indonesian people for the successful election and Prabowo for his victory on social media. Modi hoped to be able to work with the new president to strengthen the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two nation.[157]
Malaysia – Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim congratulated Prabowo for his victory in the election in a phone call amongst two leaders.[158]
Netherlands – Prime Minister Mark Rutte congratulated Prabowo following the projected outcome of the elections on social media. He also stated that he is looking forward to continuing to develop the friendship and strong bond between their countries.[159]
Philippines – President Bongbong Marcos congratulated Prabowo for his commanding lead in the latest electoral count to be Indonesia's next President on social media. He also stated that he looked forward to deepening bilateral ties, especially in the upcoming celebration of 75 years of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and the Philippines.[161]
Russia – President Vladimir Putin congratulated Prabowo on his election win and expressed confidence that Prabowo's administration would contribute to the further development of relations between their countries and strengthening security and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.[162]
Singapore – Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong congratulated Prabowo for his apparent victory, and congratulated Jokowi for the "smooth and successful conduct" of the election.[163]
Sri Lanka – President Ranil Wickremesinghe congratulated Prabowo for his victory in the election through a phone call amongst two leaders.[158]
Thailand – Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin congratulated Prabowo for his victory on social media. He expressed hope to strengthen bilateral relations.[164]
Turkey – President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delivered a congratulatory message to Prabowo following the elections results and expressed hope that the election results will be auspicious. He also stated that Indonesia and Turkey will further develop their relations. The message was delivered to Prabowo by Turkish Ambassador to Indonesia Talip Küçükcan.[165]
United Kingdom – Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivered a congratulatory message to Prabowo on his electoral victory. The message was delivered to Prabowo's home by UK Ambassador to IndonesiaDominic Jermey.[167] Jermey also congratulated "hundreds of thousands of candidates who campaigned across the archipelago" and hailed the election as "a truly epic festival of democracy".[168]
United States – State Department spokesman Matthew Miller congratulated the Indonesian people "for their robust turnout" in the election, calling it "a testament to the durability and strength of the Indonesian people's commitment to the democratic process and electoral institutions".[169] When asked why the White House had yet to congratulate Prabowo on his victory, US National Security Council Communications Advisor John Kirby said a statement would be released at an appropriate time and will respect the will of the Indonesian people.[170]
^"PERATURAN PEMERINTAH PENGGANTI UNDANG-UNDANG REPUBLIK INDONESIA NOMOR 1 TAHUN 2022 TENTANG PERUBAHAN ATAS UNDANG-UNDANG NOMOR 7 TAHUN 2017 TENTANG PEMILIHAN UMUM". Government Regulation in Lieu of Law No. 1 of 2022(PDF) (in Indonesian). President of Indonesia. Archived 25 March 2023 at the Wayback Machine
^Mantalean, Vitorio (18 August 2022). Saptohutomo, Aryo Putranto (ed.). "Syarat Partai Politik Ikuti Pemilu 2024". KOMPAS.com (in Indonesian). Archived from the original on 14 July 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
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